Is there a good way to track a time share?
I bought a Disney Vacation Club property (after market…) and I want to track it over the years. I have the up front cost, I have a yearly maintenance fee, then I have the "standard" cost of a room I want to go against. So for example with made up numbers:
Initial cost of property, title fees, 2023 maintenance fees, etc: ($30k)
2024 maintenance fees: ($1.5k)
2024 rental usage value: $2.4k
And I want to keep track of it kinda like this. So each year I have something to put my maintenance fees (negative) against and also make adjustments for either our use of the property (positive). I can also sell my rental if we aren't going to use it so when I make that deposit I want to also track that (positive).
Right now I have it set up as a property but it has a positive number when it really should be negative. However it really is property that I could then sell in the future so I'm just confused on how to track this.
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"Right now I have it set up as a property but it has a positive number when it really should be negative. "
I'm not understanding that statement. You paid $30K for something and, presumably want to show that something as an asset.
The logical approach would be Tools > Add Account… > Offline Account > Other Assets & Liabilities > Property, and then enter the requested information. Go into that Account and delete the Opening Balance that Quicken entered, then go into your checking Account and create a Transfer of the $30K you spent to the new Account. That would be a positive number in an asset Account.
I assume you did something very similar to what I wrote here, so why do you think the number should be negative? The "negative" is the dent in your checking Account, offset by a positive over in an asset Account.
The maintenance fees are a real "current expense" and wouldn't be entered in the asset Account but would instead be entered as a Category, to flow through a Spending report. You'd track that as "Time Share Maintenance Fee" or something similar.
If you rent the property that's a real "current income" and should also be entered in some sort of Category, line "Time Share Rental Income" or similar.
Another approach would be to create a Category along the lines of "Time Share Expense or Income" with SubCategories of "Maintenance Fee" and "Rental Income", netting out the two expense/income flows.
There's no "real" transaction associated with the "rental usage value: $2.4k", (which I assume is your estimate of how much it would cost you to use the place if you paid cash), so there's no logical entry to make here in an accounting program. You'll have to settle for the psychic reward of thinking "Oh boy! I only paid $1.5K for a room that would have cost me $2.4K!
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Yeah, that's exactly how I did set it up and wiped out the initial balance then pointed my previous payments to it. But the cost isn't the true cost since there were title fees, taxes, etc. With that said your suggestion of making a new category with subcategories makes the most sense so thanks for that. Then I can go back to the original payment and split the payment between the assets and the fees so the asset value is "correct".
And you are correct about the use value. Some years it might be $3.5k, some it might be $2.4k. If I sell it outright one year it would be around $3k. It just would be nice to track easily.
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"But the cost isn't the true cost since there were title fees, taxes, etc."
The stated selling price of the Time Share would not be the cost you'd enter in the Account. You capitalize the costs that are allowed to be capitalized and expense (or amortize) other costs. Property taxes would be a current cost associated with the Time Share. Title fees would be capitalized. You split that settlement check (assuming no loan was involved) appropriately.
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